In All Fairness...

EVERYONE goes through that awkward stage right?? I guess I shouldn't have said anything about Dave's glasses. Don't worry, we'll have the boxes cleaned up and put away before we can post anymore nerdy pictures from the distant past (or will we...?)

Who Knew??

In an attempt to clean out the storage room in the basement Dave and I have been sorting through old boxes. Which translates to reading a lot of sentimental letters and "remember whens" from grade school on up. We read newspaper clippings of when our junior high school burned down, Dave's mission call signed by Spencer W. Kimball, and laughed at all the funny pictures. When we saw this classic picture of Dave, I thought it was definitely post-worthy. Who knew that goofy kid would end up being such an great husband and father. Your family loves you Dave - no matter what kind of glasses you wore.

XOXO

Snowboarding at Brundage

Dave and Bryson got day passes to Brundage for Christmas and decided today was the day. It was cold but sunny and there was some fresh snow. First they had to do some work at the cabin and loaded another ton of pellets in the basement--then it was time for play. Dave skis and Bryson snowboards and I'm sure they take turns showing off for each other.

New Years Eve 2008

Even though I think New Year's Eve is a highly overrated holiday we had a good time playing games and making an I-Hop run after midnight with the "other Howells". Aubrey, Kyle and their friend Jeff and his girlfriend came for a while and we played Uno and then "the Name Game". We had some snacks and homemade grape juice. Chele and I ended up watching Garrison Keeler on PBS and Bob, Carsen and Bridger went down to the Man Cave to watch National Treasure. Bryson was over at the Lloyds' house and Sarah was at her friend-boy's house. At 12:00 we woot-wooted and lit some firecrackers (thanks, Kyle). We all piled in two cars and headed for I-Hop. Sarah met us there, Emily took Bryson and picked up Keeta and the rest of us rode in the van.

At I-Hop our server "Moe" made us guess where he was from. The choices were Russia, Israel, Africa and Argentina. He was from Africa and is going to school at BSU. It was busy at I-Hop but we were home and in bed by a little after 1:30. We are all looking forward to a great and wonderful 2009!! (Ben's graduation in May, my parent's 50 anniversary in June and Dave's momentous BD in November are just a few of our anticipated celebrations.)

Kristen's Christmas Poem link

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Christmas Week

For our Christmas Eve program we sang songs, read a story and Kristen's Christmas poem and played a game. My sister Linda and her husband John led us in Jingle Bells with John on the guitar. Lexa and Kayla (my nieces) played a duet on the piano. Dave read Kristen's poem and I read the story behind "I Head the Bells on Christmas Day" about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. My mother led us in a game where you pass presents (right, left, left) depending on the words in the story. We passed the scriptures around so everyone got to read part of Luke 2.

Christmas Day we spent the afternoon at Linda's house with a great Christmas dinner consisting of ham, green beans, eggplant parmigiana, rolls, green salad, and several kinds of pies. Then we opened family gifts. Dave gave me snowshoes (of course he had to get himself a pair also as it would be no fun to go snowshoeing by myself). Dave and I received stadium seats, down blankets and an umbrella so we can watch Bryson's football games in comfort this fall. We gave Linda and John a porch swing and Jeff and Jaelyn got a blender from my parents. Linda and John gave my parents an electric knife. Liz made Linda a DVD of family videos. It was hilarious. From Donna (Dave's sister) we received a Walton's video, Walmart gift card and a CD about Glenn Beck that I can't wait to listen to. Thanks Donna!

Friday we all went to the Hillcrest Countryclub for a breakfast put on by my mother and my aunt. We each wrote down something other people might not know about us and guessed who it was. Even my Grandma didn't know that my Uncle Floyd had ridden a camel. It was fun.
Dave and I had to make a run to McCall on Saturday to fix the dish washers, shovel snow and updated the TV. Of course we HAD to try out the snowshoes in all the fluffy white stuff. The roads were treacherous going up and coming down. We were in 4 wheel drive the whole time.
All in all it was as fun as it could be without Ben, Chantal, Kristen, Matt, Megan and Kevin. We did get to talk to them all. I only cried a little when Dave read the poem about them not being there - mothers can be so sentimental!

If You Are What You Eat...

I'm cheap, fast and easy! Bryson and I put up our Christmas tree yesterday in less than ten minutes. Rosemary gave us the tree (an extra she had) and we pulled it out of the box in three pieces. Bryson put the three pieces together and I plugged it in! Wow, I don't know if I can go bacl to the forest, tramp through the snow, look for the best one, cut it down, haul it home, cut it to fit (someone once cut off the wrong end and we had a topless tree - no names mentioned!), keep it watered, untangle the lights, put the lights on, etc. We are spoiled! Maybe next year I will do what my grandma did: throw plastic over it and keep it up and decorated in the basement until next year...

PS Kristen I will post the tag, but I am having a hard time remembering what I did last week let alone ten years ago. After the Big Party this Saturday, I will have some time to get it together--I promise.